Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Portrait of a Girl (Isabella de Reinosa?)
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano) Italian
Not on view
Although the sitter’s identity is uncertain, this serious young woman may be Duchess Eleonora’s longtime friend and the first of her ladies, Isabella de Reinosa (died 1554). Eleonora preferred to speak in Spanish and surrounded herself with people who shared her culture. Unostentatious, the girl wears no earrings and adheres to Spanish standards of decorum at the time, which required seriousness in self-presentation. She holds a book over her heart, probably a book of hours, a Christian devotional text. Her diamond ring may be an emblem of faith: since antiquity, diamonds were believed to be incorruptible stones that provided protection, and they were subsequently equated with Christ.
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